Lock for automobiles



June 14,1927. 1,632,576

R. ALFlSl LOOK FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed April 9, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTQR flafiaale Jljeau ATTORNEYS 1,6 2,5 June 14, 1927. I I R. ALFIS 3 76 LOOK FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed April 9, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 li-llllll 1N VENTOR %jjaele wg si ATTORNEYS Patented June 14, 1927.

UNITED STATES @nAF'nAnLE ALFISI, or BaooKL n, NEW YORK tocx FOR AUTOMOBILES.

' Application filed April 9, 1926. Serial No. 100,936.

This invention relates to looks for automobiles'and is an improvement over my prior application, Serial No. 18,890, filed March 27, 1925, e

The object of the invention is to provide animprovedstructurqwhich when locked,

cannot be unlocked without taking the. device apart. f

"Another object of theinvention is to'provide' a lock for automobiles wherein the same is'manipulated for opening and closing the circuit of the ignition and for opening and closing the pipe through "which the gasoline flOWSWVllQIl. the parts are properly operated while the parts, are so arranged that the'ignition willremain open and the gasoline supply pipe remain closed when'the device has been improperly actuated.

A furtheriobject of the invention is to provide'an improved lock for automobiles wherein the parts are held against operation by an auxiliary lock, which when operated, permits an authorized person to manipulate the device for closing the ignition circuit andopening the gasoline supply pipe and at the same time permitting an unauthorized person to manipulate" theidevice for locking the same in a given position and at the same time closing the circuit of the horn or other signaling device. p i i In the accompanying: drawings- Figure 1 is a top plan view of the device disclosingan embodiment of the invention,

part being broken away for illustrating certain details of the invention. i V

Figure 2 is a sectional view through Figure 310m line 22. l

Figure 3 is a sectional view through Figure 1, approximatelyon line 83, certain duplicated parts at the rear of the figure being omitted for the purpose of clearness.

Figure 4 is a detail fragmentary sectional view through Figure 3 on line 44.

Figure 5 is a detail fragmentary sectional Yiewthrough Figure '3 on line t Figure 6 is a detail fragmentary sectional view through Figure 1, approximately on line 66. v,

Figure 7 is a diagram showing the wiring and other parts and illustrating how the same are connected to the different parts of V the automObile. i l

a In constructing the device embodying the invention, it is aimedto connect the same to the headlights-the horn or other signalling device of the automobile as well as to through which the plate 8 moves.

the ignition circuit of the engine and the v gasoline supply pipe of, the engine. By

' properly manipulating certain parts of the device, the headlights may be turned on either bright or dim and associated with the device is the horn of the automobile which may be manipulated independentlyof the 1 device or when the device has been moved to an inoperative position either by an authorized or unauthor zed person.

structed and arranged that an authorized 7 person may readily operate the device. to

secure the desired result while an unauthorized person would actuate the device, to lock the same against functioning.

Referring to the accompanying drawings by numerals, 1 indicates a casing having. a

terior lining 3 of insulating material. A plate4 is mounted on flange .2and secured thereto bysuitable screws or other fastening means 5. A cap or covering structure 6 is also provided and connected with the plate 4 by the screws 5. The cap 6 is vprovided with an opening or central bore 7 The plate 8 is provided with a'pointer 9 continually maintained in alignment with the arm 10 hereinafter fully described. The plate 8 is preferably integral with the sleeve 11, said sleeve merging into an enlargement 12 having a flange 13. A hand wheel or member 14 fits over the enlargement 12 and rests on flange 13, said hand wheel or member 14 being held in place by any suitable means, as for instance, set screw 15. Preferably the upper part of member 12 is provided with a squared portion 16 in the bore thereof so thatthe hollow shaft 17 may be held against turning, said hollow shaft hav ing flattened portions 18 (Figure 5), said flattened portions fitting the squared portions 16. 'A screw 19 extends through the upper part of member 14 and is threaded I t I I When i this occurs, the horn or other soundmg deflared portion Qand'su'pplied with an iniii rangement, whenever the hand wheel 14 is rotated,-shaft 17 and parts connected therewith will also be rotated as well as the disk 8. An auxiliary sleeve 20 is preferably formed integral with the disk-S and-extends in the opposite direction from the disk to sleeve 11, said auxiliary sleeve 2(lhaidng' the lower end journaled inthe boss 21. of plate 4. It will be noted that the plate l; is provided with an annular upstandingflange structure 22 whichis provided with a number of slits 23. These slits n'eferably extend for the full,heightootflange 22 and thereby eonvertthis flange into a number of vertical-posts or blocks 2 as shown jiarticularly in Figure 1. An insulatingspool 25 is carried by the ,arnrlOand surrounds shaft 17. said spool being rigidly clampedto the shaftby the elampingjenlargements 26. and 27 of arm 10, said clamping enlargements being caused to function by-reason of the screws 28 (Figure 5.) It will henoted that the arm 10 is provided with an extension29 opposite the nain.part of the. arm, said extension acting on the rod .01 pin. 30 as hereimiftei"ii'i'lll y described. The arm 10 near the outer end is provided with an insulating block 31. arranged on one side and extending from the bottom of the arm to near the-top. The arm ,10 preferably flat onthe lower surface as shown inFi lure 4 so as to readily contact with the contact pin .32 which is resiliently supported by a suitable spring mounted in the housing 83 rigidly secured. to the ring 34. The ring 34 acts as aground: for all of the contacts 32 while the opposite side. of the circuit is connectedwith the various catches These catches are mounted on insulating blocks 36 and are resiliently held. in a given position by suitable springs 37. The contact portion or extension 38 is resilently held against the upper edge ot'ithe arm 10 immediatel abovethe insulating block 31 wheuthe armis in its fully lowered orinoperative position .as shown in Figure ,4. The contact or extension 38actsin the double capactiy of providing a contact for completm the circuit of the hornor other sin-nailing device 39 and as mechanical means for lock ing'the arm .lOngainstremoval. .The arm 14) moves to the positionshown in Figure 41-. oyrlywhen operatedby an unauthorizedperson as an authorized person who knows the secret of the device will always move arm l 0 so that it will he in the position shown in Figure Qbe'fore the arm is pressed downartlly or to its inner position.

As indicated in Figure 2, theinsulating' block 36 nearthe contact plate tOis not provided with a contact extension. 38 so that the arm 10 may more pastthis block back and forth freely. (lo-acting with the contact isasecondcontact ll which is provided with suitable upstanding contact memberssomewhat resilient whereby when the arm 10 is .in this circuit.

moved to a position in line with the position shown inv Figure 2 it may be readily forced downwardly or rather inwardly until the arm is pinched between the contacts l!) and 4-1. When in this position it is not locked but the ignition circuit of the engine is closed as contacts 40 and t1 arc interposed At the same time that; the arm 10 moves downwardly to close the in;- nition circuit as described, the extcnsitm 2!) of arm '10 will strike the pin 30 and force the same downwardly. This pin carries a valve 42 having a passage vay 4:3. The downward movement of the parts is such that the passage-way 43 will be brought into register-y with the passage-way 4-1; in the pipe 45, which pipe supplies thegasoline to the carburetor of the engine. It will thus be seen that when the arm 10 is swung around to the correct position as shown in Fi 'rurc 2 and is then forced downwardly for its extreme movement. the ignition circuit of the engine will be closed and the gasoline supply pipe will be opened. The engine may read ily be started either by the usual starter or by cranking or in any other desired way.

If any one should move the arm 10 to 2 position other than that shown in Figure and then force the same downwardly. the arm would be moved to the position shown in Figure 4 and caught inthis position and held by member 38. The arm could not be moved upwardly without taking the device to pieces'or partly to pieces which would require more time than a thief could spare, particularly as the contact of members 23'. with arm 10 would closethe circuit of the horn 39 and produce a signal. In addition, the arm 10 would miss the contacts 40 and 4-1, the extension 29 would miss pin 30 so that the engine would still be deprived of gasoline and the ignition circuit would-still remain open. Having once been caught in. the position shown in Figure 41-, the thief could not remove the arm to shift the same to another position as there is nomeans of mov inp the member 38 away from arm 10 without first removing a large part of the mechanism of the device. In addition, it has been found desirable to always cause the arm it) to rotate in one direction and in order to brine this about, a ratchet wheel 46 is rigidly secured to the shaft 7 and co-acts with the pawl 41-? carried'by the disk 48, which disk is rigidly secured to the sleeve 4-9. The sleeve 49 is permitted to rcci] n'ocatc in the well 50 but is held against rotation by the key 51 operating in the slot In order to turn on and off the head lights of the automobile,allover is pro vided which is rigidly secured to a shaft 54. said shaft being rotatably mountcd in a hollow boss 55 and positioned with the lower;part extending through plate 4. An arm 56 is rigidly secured to the lower end Ill of shaft 54 and carries an insulating-block 57 in which is embedded a metallic plate while if the parts are swung,v until the bar Sv is in contact with the pin 60', the headlights are on dim. The operation of the lever 53, however, does not in any way at feet the locking mechanism of the device and may be manipulated'at-any time by any .From .Figure :1 it will be noted that'the cap 6 is provided with a large number of designationsor legends 62 which are shown as numbers. Any desired number of these numerals or designations may be provided, there being one, however, for each of the slots 23.- In the accompanying drawings,

the slot 23 is the correct slot in which pointer 9 is to enter when arinlO is to be inserted between the contacts 40 and 41 for permitting a proper operation of the engine. If pointer 9 enters any of the other slots, no results will beaccomplished except the factthat arm 10 willv beelocked in the lower position as shown in Figure 4 and the horn 39 continually sounded so asto attract attention to thefact that an unauthorized person hasoperatedthe devicewith a view of possibly stealing the automobile.

In Figure 7 will befseen a diagram showingthe various wirings needed to carry out the invention. From this figure it will be observed that there is provided a fitting 63 for-receiving the various-lead-in wires and causing a proper distribution of the electric'current from the battery or other source 64. When thebar58 is arranged as shown in thisfigure, current willpass from the 7 cross bar :58,'thr ough pin 59, Wire 69, bind source 64 through wire 65, binding post 66 and fromthence through the fuse 67 to wire. 68, from wire 68 .to contact pin 61,

ing post 70, wire 71, wire 72 through the bright filaments 73 and from thence to the ground, It will be. noted that wire 72 connects both the brightfilaments73 so that both will be lighted at the same time. If

bar 58 was moved until itengaged pin60,

current would pass in the same'manner as above described from thesource to the pin Gland from thence to into, through wire 74,. binding post 75 to wire 76 and from thence through thedim filaments 77 to the ground. In this way, current may be suptothe distributor and from thence to the spark plugs of the engine. As a circuit,- it will. be noted that the current will pass from the source 64 through wire 65 to bindingpost 78, through Wire 79 to the contact.41, through this contact and arm 10 to contact 40 and from contact 40 through wire and'through the horn to wire 84 and through .1

wire 84 to contact 85, wire 86, wire 87 to "the extension 38, through said extension to the arm 10 and through the arm;10 to contact pin 32 to ring 34 and from thence to the ground. 'This will cause, the horn 39 to sound continually independently of the manuallyactuated switch 88. When it is desired to cause the horn 39 to be sounded as a signal during theuse ot the automobile,

switch 38 is temporarily closed and current is supplied directly to the horn independent of arm 16 and associated devices.

In operation, when 1t1s desired to use the device, pointer 9 is. moved around to a position opposite 13 as shown in Figure 1. The hand wheel 14 and associated parts are then pushed downwardly to the dotted position shown in Figure 3 whereupon arm 10 will be gripped between the contacts 40 and 41. After the automobile-has been used and it is stopped, the-operator holds the knob 14 until the parts assume the position shown infiFi gure 3 and then turns the knob while in this raised position until pointer 9 is opposite some other notch than 13. If an unauthorizedperson attempts to operate the device, unless he guesses the slot opposite numeral 13, he will cause the arm 10 to be caught by extension 38 and produce? continuous'signal while at the same time preventing a closing of the eiruit the ignition-system and preventing the flow of gasoline. to the engine as the valve 42 would not be operated. It has been found that children and other innocent parties may shift the hand wheel 14 and may then press the same inwardly without any intention of stealing the automobile. To prevent the catching of the arm 10 by the extension 38, an auxiliary lock is provided which consists ot'an arm 89 pivotally supported on plate 4, said arm havingan upstanding section 90.

.The arm 89 is provided with a boss or enlargement 91 having a triangle-shaped opening which is adapted to receive a triangleshaped key whereby the arm 89 may be swung to the dotted position shown in Figure 1 whereupon the extension will fit in between certain of the posts 24. Extension 90 is approximately half the height ofv the post When extension 90 is in thisposition and it is attempted to press the hand wheel 1-l downwardly, this cannot be done fully as the plate 8 .'ill strike the extension and, consequently, preventarm 10 from entering the space beneath any of the extensions :3. It will, therefore, be necessary for some one having a proper key to unlock lever 89 be- 'fore the device can be operated. This will prevent children and other innocent persons from accidentally operating the device or rather shifting the arm 10 to the position shown in Figure 4. If a thief should operate thelever 8", which would be comparatively easy, it would then be necessary for him to properly operate 'knob l-lfor causingarm 10 to engage the contacts 10 and 41. As the thief would not hnow'which slot 23 to utilize, he would almost invariably choose the wrong slot and in pressingthe wheel. 14 inwardly, would cause the arm 10 to assume the position shown in Figure with the results above oiitlined.

It will be noted that the pointer 9 enters the slot at number 13 with the parts set as shown in Figures 1 and 2. In case the owner should desire to change the combination, he would in effect, hold the arm 10 in the position shown in Figure 2 and would then shift pointer 9 to some other place, as for instance, to a point opposite slot 15. The parts would then be loci-ted together so that the arm 10 and pointer 9 would there after move together but it will be necessary to always move pointer 9 to slot 15 before arm 10 could be moved. to its correct position as shown in Figure 2. By reason of ratchet 16, shaft 17 and associated parts can be rotated in one direction only. The hand wheel 14: is connected to the enlargement 12 by the set screw 15. The enlargement 12 is provided with a number of depressions 12. In fact, there is one depression 12 for each of the numbers or legends 62 and they are spaced the same distance relatively. \Vhen it is desired to change the combination as above mentioned, set screw 15 is un screwed and hand wheel 14 is held stationary manually while the disk 18, sleeve 11 and associated parts including the pointer 9 are rotated the desired distance, as for instance, until pointer 9 is imn'iediateiy above the slot indicated at 15 in Figure 1. Set screw 15 is then screwed down tight and the change of combination has been completed so that hereafter point 9 must always be moved to slot marked 15 in Figure 1 before it can be properly operated to cause arm 10to close the ignition circuit and the other parts function in the proper manner. If itis desired to change the combination a second time or a number of times, the same operation is carried out.

What I claim is:

1. A lock for automobiles provided with an ignition circuit comprising a valve for controlling the gasoline pipe of the automobile engine, means acting as a switch conated structure is moved to other than a particular point.

2. A lock of the character described comprising a valve for controlling the flow of gasoline, a reciprocating member for moving the valve to an open position, spring means for moving the valve to a closed position, and meansfor latching the reciprocating means against functioning.

3. A look for automobile engines provided with an ignition circuit, said lock including a pair of spaced contacts interposed in said ignition circuit, a reciprocating and rotating shaft, an arm carried by said reciprocating and rotating shaft, said arm being of a size to connect said contacts when the reciprocating shaft is moved in its extreme inner position, a series of catches positioned to independently engage said armfor locking the same in an inner position when moved thereto, a pointer carried by said shaft, :1 series of numbers arranged adjacent said pointer for guiding an authorized person in positioning said pointer so that when the reciprocating shaft is moved to itsinner position the arm will engage the contacts for closing the ignition circuit.

4:. A look for automobile engines having an ignition circuit including a rod and reeiprocating member, an arm carried by said member, means eo-acting with said member when the same is not in its correct position for locking the same against movement after it has been moved to an extreme inner position, means for causing said arm to close said ignition circuit when the arm is moved to a certain extreme inner position, and a manually locked structure for normally preventing the inward movement of said arm.

5. In a lockfor automobile engines, a casing, a cover for said casing, a plurality of legends arranged on said cover, a pointer positioned adjacent said members, a reciprocating structure, an arm rigidly secured to said reciprocating structure whereby the pointer will indicate the relative position of the arm, means for latching the arm in an extreme inner position when moved to acertain inner position, a pair of spaced contact points adapted to having the .gap therebetween bridged by said arm when moved to a second inner position, and manually actuated means for normally preventing the inward movement of said reciprocating structure.

QAFFAELE ALFISI. 

